How Much Is a Red Light Ticket in Florida: Fines, Points, and Insurance

A red light ticket in Florida costs $158 if a camera caught you and you pay on time, or roughly $260 to $280 if an officer pulled you over, because county court costs pile onto the same $158 base fine. The camera version carries no points and does not affect your insurance. The officer-issued version does both, and it also requires you to complete a driver improvement course.

Camera Tickets: $158, Flat

Florida’s Mark Wandall Traffic Safety Program lets cities and counties use automated cameras at intersections. If a camera catches your vehicle, the registered owner gets a Notice of Violation in the mail. The penalty is $158, set by state law and identical in every county.¹

Camera tickets are not moving violations. No points touch your license, and insurers cannot use the violation to raise your rates, provided you pay by the deadline on the notice.¹ Miss that deadline and the picture changes completely. More on that below.

Officer-Issued Tickets: $158 Plus County Costs

When a police officer stops you, you get a Uniform Traffic Citation. The base fine is still $158, but each of Florida’s 67 counties tacks on its own court costs and administrative fees.² Two examples show the range:

Palm Beach County: $264 total.³
Miami-Dade County: $277 total.⁴

Those court costs are mandatory. You cannot negotiate them off the bill.

What Happens If You Miss the Deadline

Ignoring either type of ticket is expensive.

A camera notice gives you 60 days to pay the $158, submit an affidavit saying you were not the driver, or request a hearing. Do nothing in that window and the notice automatically converts to a Uniform Traffic Citation.¹ The fine jumps to roughly $260 to $280, points hit your license, and your insurer can now see the violation. A $158 nuisance becomes a multi-year problem because of one missed deadline.

If you fail to pay or appear on an officer-issued citation, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles suspends your driving privilege indefinitely until you settle it with the court, and a reinstatement fee may apply.⁵ Driving on a suspended license is a criminal offense in Florida.

Points on Your License

A red light conviction from an officer-issued ticket adds 3 points, or 4 points if the violation involved a crash.⁶ Camera tickets carry zero points when paid on time.

Florida suspends licenses that accumulate too many points on a rolling basis:

12 points in 12 months: 30-day suspension
18 points in 18 months: 3-month suspension
24 points in 36 months: 1-year suspension⁶

The Mandatory Driver Improvement Course

Here is the rule that surprises most drivers: a red light conviction requires you to complete a state-approved Basic Driver Improvement course within 90 days. Miss that window and your license is canceled until you complete it.⁷ It applies to every driver convicted of running a red light, regardless of driving history.

The BDI course is 4 hours, available online or in person. Online options generally cost $15 to $40 with processing fees; classroom courses cost more.

Traffic School to Keep Points Off

Separately, you can elect traffic school to avoid the points entirely. To qualify, you must make the election within 30 days of the citation and pay the fine and court costs in that same window. You can use the option once every 12 months, and up to 8 times in your life.⁷ The adjudication is withheld, so the conviction does not appear on your record and no points are assessed.

Traffic school does not reduce the monetary penalty. You still pay the full fine and court costs. What it protects is your driving record and your insurance rate.

Contesting the Ticket

For a camera ticket, the notice includes instructions for requesting a hearing before a local hearing officer. You have to request it before the deadline on the notice. If the hearing officer upholds the violation, you owe the $158 plus county costs of up to $250.¹

One narrow defense: Florida law prohibits camera tickets for right turns on red made carefully at intersections where right turns are permitted.¹ If that describes your ticket, it is valid grounds for dismissal. You can also submit a sworn affidavit stating you were not driving, since the notice goes to the registered owner.

An officer-issued citation is contested in county traffic court. If you lose at the hearing, the judge can still impose the full fine, costs, and points, along with whatever you spent on the effort.

Insurance: The Real Long-Term Cost

An officer-issued red light conviction is a moving violation, and your insurer will see it at renewal. How much your premium rises depends on the carrier and your overall record. A driver with a clean history may see a modest increase; someone with recent violations can expect a bigger one.

The increase usually stays on your policy for about three years, the lookback period most insurers use. Across that span, the extra premium often costs more than the ticket itself. Electing traffic school to withhold adjudication is the most reliable way to prevent this, because Florida law bars insurers from using camera-enforced violations or withheld adjudications when setting rates.⁸

1
The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 316.0083 – Mark Wandall Traffic Safety Program
2
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 318.18 – Amount of Penalties
3
Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller, Palm Beach County. Traffic Violation Fees
4
Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts. Civil Traffic Infractions
5
Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Traffic Citations or Court Suspensions
6
Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Points and Point Suspensions
7
Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Driver Improvement Schools
8
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 322.27 – Authority of Department to Suspend or Revoke License